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Four Bath alumni head to London for final of Graduate 100

15 September 2010

We are delighted to announce that four Bath graduates have been shortlisted for the national Graduate 100 awards, which will be presented at a special dinner in London this evening (Wednesday 15 September).

The Graduate 100 is the largest initiative of its kind in Britain and was developed in partnership with leading employers, universities and key industry figures to recognise outstanding students and identify recent graduates who are tipped to become the next generation of leaders.

More than 13,000 graduates from over 70 universities entered the awards with only ten finalists picked out for each of the ten categories covered. The fact that Bath has produced four of these top 100 graduates is an accolade to the quality of our teaching and the calibre of our students.

Wassiq Ghaffar, Project Director of Graduate 100, said: "This fantastic result promotes the University of Bath in a very positive light; to have four graduates nominated within three different categories represents an achievement of the highest order."

The four successful Bath graduates and their categories are as follows:

Thomas Fletcher - IT & Computing Award, sponsored by Intel - was the Department of Computer Science's top student in session 2009-10 and was awarded a first class honours degree in July. His final year project earned a distinction, and used machine learning (Gaussian classifiers) to recognise strategies humans use when they play games together. He applied this technique to the Chinese game 'Go', which is a far more computationally complex game than chess. Thomas is no stranger to success: the week after completing his finals, he entered and won the worldwide start-up competition, Location Wild, for a virtual waterfight game played in real-world locations against other players. (Read more.) Thomas also created the popular Facebook application Friend Wheel, which was named one of the top 100 Facebook applications by Tech Digest. Thomas was nominated for the Graduate 100 by his Director of Studies, Alan Hayes.

Andrew Bacon - Engineering Award, sponsored by Tata Steel - was nominated by Adrian Evans, Director of Studies in the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Andrew produced an exceptional final year project on plasma induced buoyancy, a topic that he proposed and researched himself. He was also extremely active in a number of technical societies both on and off campus. He was a co-leader of the Space Generation Advisory Council Near Earth Object (NEO) Working Group and also founded BathSEDS, the newest chapter of UKSEDS (UK Students for the Exploration & Development of Space).

Nick Shurey - Architecture & Built Environment Award sponsored by DWK New Media - was awarded a first class honours degree at the summer degree ceremonies. He was nominated for the Graduate 100 award by Martin Gledhill, who was Nick's studio tutor year leader and Director of Studies in the Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering. Nick was an outstanding student who, in his final year, produced a deeply thoughtful proposal for a combined monastery/calvados refinery set on the island in front of Pulteney Bridge. The scheme also returned Parade Gardens to an orchard providing the apples for the production of eau de vie. Nick was a finalist for the 3DReid Student Prize and has been entered for the RIBA's coveted bronze prize for student work.

Samantha Rive - Architecture & Built Environment Award sponsored by DWK New Media - has also been nominated for the RIBA's bronze prize, in addition to winning the Hays Exhibition Prize. For her final year project, Sam discovered the site of a bombed church, the ruins of which were revealed through excavation. On the roof of the new church, Sam's proposal placed a garden and two towers, one housing a series of monks' cells and the other a retreat centre. Martin Gledhill, Sam's studio tutor year leader, described it as "an extremely brave scheme".

The students, together with the staff who nominated them, will attend a prestigious awards ceremony tonight (Wednesday 15 September) at the London Marriott Hotel. James Caan from BBC The Dragon's Den will be the keynote speaker at the dinner and will be meeting many of the Graduate 100 finalists and their respective universities.

The awards ceremony will also see the launch of the Graduate 100 publication, where all shortlisted students will be profiled. The publication will be circulated to leading companies and institutions and made available online.